Springbank 1997 12 Year Old Claret Wood

I saw this the other day in the store, and was intrigued because I had not tried anything from Springbank before, even though all of their standard bottlings from the 10 to the 15 and 12 cask strength etc are always there for a good price. This bottling look interesting and a few reviews online said it was relatively uncommon to see it and that it was quite scrumptious, so I went for it!

Nose: really powerfully sweet, and slightly smoky nose. There is caramel and toffee and other rich flavours. I don't know how else to describe it except incredibly balanced and very very good.

Palate: It gets really interesting here; the nose promises more smoke than is actually present! There is smoke and ash but only as an additive to the wide range of sweet and spicy flavours that were present in the nose. Nothing dominates and it all comes together for a powerful crescendo.

Finish: The finish lingers, with a surpirsing nuttiness! The smoke dissipates and leaves you with a sweet nutty flavour that lasts, like pecan pie almost but more bitter... So good!

Over all this is a superb whisky, and if you see it you need to buy it! The label says they bottled about 9300 bottles.

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